Sailor Stardust
by Lucianna Gene
Summary: Charged with the role of sole Guardian of the Empty, Sailor Stardust has never experienced working in a team. When Sailor Moon meets her, the Scout of Love and Justice makes Stardust rethink her initial job description.  reviews determine continuation
1. Welcome Stardust

Sailor Stardust—A Sailor Moon Fan Fiction

Hoshino Ren walked quietly through the park. A group of boys walked by and laughed, making Ren pull at her short silver hair self consciously. Her father worked for a large cellular phone company in the major city of Tokyo, and sent her to attend a prestigious private academy. She wore the regular uniform: dark skirt, white collared blouse with short sleeves, large bow on the chest and on the side of her head. The grey knee high socks disappeared into black, flat shoes with a strap buckle.

Ren stopped walking as she heard a shriek of laughter. A group of six girls and one guy sat in a circle near the playground area. The smallest girl had pink hair done up in a way that made her look like a rabbit, while another had long blond ponytails topped in meatball-like buns. A blue haired girl sat with a book in her lap, a dark haired girl was yelling good-naturedly at the blond; another blond with a large bow in her hair was laughing, and a brown haired girl with a pony tail was serving sandwiches from a bento box. The man with them had an arm thrown over the meatball head's shoulders. They smiled at each other, their love evident.

Ren sighed. The seven of them looked so carefree, unaware of the trouble that threatened the universe. If they had been a bit more serious in their mannerisms, Ren could have taken them for the legendary Inner Senshi. But surely in their normal forms, the Inner Senshi would still be serious?

Ren sighed again. Her search for the legendary warriors of Crystal Tokyo had been so far in vain. No one that she had encountered in all of her years as a Sailor had come as close to resembling the other warriors as those six—the man looked so much like King Endymion, it was scary.

But as Sailor Stardust, she was a lone warrior. She never mingled with the other Sailors. Where others had groups of three partners or more, she was charged by Sailor Galaxia—the hope of humankind—to roam the galaxy alone, fighting anything beyond the reaches of the planet Pluto. 

A scream rang out from the building to her right. Ren ran into the nearest deserted area, not noticing that the other seven people she had been watching had also disappeared at the loud shriek.

Ren took out a black pen topped with a dusty silver winged ball. She held it out in front of her, letting it extend to the floor. "Cosmic Star Power!" her words echoed in the silence of her surroundings.

With a firm hand on her staff, her transformation began. White leotard with grey flared sleeve tops, black sailor collar with two white stripes at the edges, white gloves traveled up her elbow to end in grey ringlets—with black accents at her wrists, black skirt with a black bow with long ties coming off of it. Her black boots reached above her knees to end in an upside-down V with grey rings at her ankles. Her tiara was a grey band with a white star in the center, and her earring were grey stars. Her grey-blue eyes completed her muted costume.

The only color in her ensemble was her staff, which had some gold curving around the ends of the rod and around the orb in a crescent moon formation—a subtle tribute to her Queen Serenity.

Ren, now Sailor Stardust, ran out back into the street in time to catch a warlock from a neighboring galaxy—she knew a few neighboring galaxies, and thus the people in them—being held in one position by Sailors Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto. The other Sailors had yet to show up, and Stardust had worked with those particular three before. She jumped into the fray, bringing her staff to bear down on the warlock.

"Foolish you are to try and stop me!" the warlock laughed at the four of them. "I am Gaylen, Warlock of the Fifth Degree! You cannot hope to defeat me!"

"We don't need to defeat you!" Stardust countered an attack, blasting him with a short burst of dust from her staff.

As a Sailor of the stars and the dust that they created, Stardust could summon and store said sut inside of her staff head. But she could only store so much, and then she couldn't summon more for at least five more minutes after using the last of the stores. She mainly had to count on her Blinding Light—the power that allowed her to summon a light as bright as any star—and her Dead Space—freezing her foe inside the spaces of his mind, rendering his physical body powerless—but even they weren't enough. Her physical abilities only took her so far, and she couldn't work well with others.

"Uranus World Shaking!" Sailor Uranus released her power.

The ground shook beneath them, and the warlock was blasted into a building. As soon as the upper part of his body peeled away from the building, Neptune stepped up:

"Neptune Deep Submerge!"

Pluto stepped in as soon as Neptune's power hit the warlock:

"Pluto Deadly Scream!"

The scouts looked to Stardust, and she held her staff in front of her. She stood on one leg, the other tucked up beneath her. She lifted her staff, her head following it.

"Stardust Dead Space!"

The warlock had just regained his feet, and he looked relatively natural when Stardust's power hit him. His physical body froze, but his eyes looked at Sailor Stardust with severe hatred. _My brethren will find you, Sailor Scout!_ His voice echoed through her skull, followed by a searing pain through her brow like a metal band that was squeezing her slowly.

"Uranus, Neptune, Pluto!" Sailor Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mini Moon, and Tuxedo Mask came running to meet them.

"Well, it's about time you got here!" Uranus said, annoyed. "We've got him in a good position, just finish him off."

"Right!" Sailor Moon brandished her wand.

The Moon Scepter twirled as Sailor Moon prepared to bring the warlock to justice.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"

The warlock's eyes bulged as the golden light of Sailor Moon's power enveloped him, releasing his essence and sending his physical body into the ether.

"Well, you could have saved us a little bit of time there, Sailor Moon," Pluto joked, hugging Sailor Mini Moon at the same time. "It's good to see you again, Small Lady."

"Who's this?" Mars looked at Stardust.

In all of the commotion, Stardust had forgotten to make herself scarce when the Inner Senshi had arrived. She usually got out of a battle before the other scouts made their appearance. She folded her arms loosely over her abdomen; her staff had shrunk to a good size, and this she held in her left hand, fist clenched.

"I am Sailor Stardust," she introduced herself. "I am the Guardian of the Empty Space. The Keeper of the In Between. In short, I keep order in the starry space between your planets and celestial kingdoms."

"You're a Sailor Scout?" Mercury asked, incredulous. "I've never heard of you before, any offense."

"I am charged by Sailor Galaxia to scout alone," Stardust answered with a heavy tone—saddened at her own words. "I am not allowed to work with the other Sailor Scouts."

"But you worked with us just now," Neptune said.

"Yes, and perhaps it was a mistake to get caught up in the battles of the other Senshi—but I cannot simply sit in space during the Earth nights anymore."

"You can join our team!" Mini Moon suggested with a smile. "We're always open to making new friends."

"We'd be happy to have you on the team," Sailor Moon nodded, extending her hand.

Stardust stared at her fellow warrior's outstretched hand. Did she dare take that hand? If she did, she may be going against everything that Galaxia had charged her with. If she took Sailor Moon's hand, would she be released from her duties as a scout? Stardust didn't want to find out. She smiled kindly at Sailor Moon.

"Thank you for the offer, Sailor Moon," she said. "But I have a sacred duty. One that must be performed alone."

"But you said yourself," Venus stepped forward, "that you didn't want to just guard the space anymore."

"That may be so, but my personal whims are of no consequence to my mistress' task."

"Just during the day, then?" Jupiter suggested.

Their offer was awfully tempting, and Stardust bit her lip. Uranus and Neptune came to stand on either side of her.

"She already has a part-time team," Uranus told the other Senshi. "She already works with us most of the time anyway."

Jupiter looked between Neptune and Uranus while Mini Moon looked to Pluto. The Scout of Time nodded in consent with her teammates. Stardust couldn't help but smile a little at the thought of having a team of her own. But this smile quickly disappeared. Her mistress must never know—though she probably already did. While Galaxia was a gentle mistress, if she found out that Stardust had joined with the other scouts, it could get a little ugly. Stardust was charged with a solo mission, and that would require most of her time.

"Well, then," Mars clapped Stardust on the shoulder. "Welcome to the team, Sailor Stardust!"

"Yes," Sailor Moon smiled. "Welcome."


	2. A Past Mistake

**Sailor Stardust—A Sailor Moon Fan Fiction: Chapter 2**

Hoshino Ren walked slowly to school. Although her school was only a few blocks from her apartment, she had left the house an hour early. Her father had left for work earlier that morning, and the apartment got quieter every time he left.

He didn't know about her job as a Sailor. Nor did he know about the world that the Sailor Scouts inhabited: a world constantly in peril. At least, that's how she thought of it.

Ren paused as two shadows bled into her own. She looked up hurriedly, reaching subconsciously for her pen.

"Good morning," Haruka Tenou greeted her.

"Oh," Ren released her pen, which—luckily—she had not taken out of her book bag. "Good morning, Tenou."

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" Tenou's companion, Michiru Kaiou, commented.

"I suppose," Ren agreed.

"Hey, maybe you could help us?" Tenou asked, pulling out a small drawing—done by Kaiou—and showed it to Ren. "We're looking for people that resemble this person."

Ren nearly gasped aloud when she was presented with the picture. It was a rough sketch of Sailor Stardust—her!—in the middle of her Dead Space attack. Stardust's hair and eyes were particularly accented—probably to help distinguish her. Ren swallowed, throat dry.

"Um…I'm sorry, I can't help you." She tugged nervously at her hair.

If her mistress, Galaxia, found out that she was being sought out by people of Earth…. But both Kaiou and Tenou had odd resemblances to Uranus and Neptune—and their temperament was a lot closer to that of a Scout than the other six that she had seen in the park the other day. No way those six could be the counterparts of the Inner Senshi.

Ren tried to politely move around Tenou, but the older girl put a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, are you _sure _you haven't seen anyone like her around? Maybe take another look."

"No, I'm sorry, I haven't."

With that, Ren broke Tenou's hold on her shoulder and kept walking. Behind her, she could hear Tenou and Kaiou talking.

"Is it her?" Kaiou asked.

"There's no one else who bears such a striking resemblance," Tenou said. "But we'll let her tell us in her own time."

"Now would be better," Kaiou sighed. "We cannot afford to hold secrets from one another, with neighboring galaxies growing greater in their armies."

"We can't force her, Michiru."

Ren kept walking.

* * *

School that day was boring. Ren had scanned the previous chapters, and so was familiar with the material being covered. But the teacher was trying to make the lesson fun, so the least she could do was pay attention, right? _But _there were some shadows outside of the window that she sat next to, and she could swear that they were watching her. She tapped her pen on her notepad nervously, jumping as stardust sprinkled all over her notes—a warning sign.

"Sensei!" she raised her hand.

"Yes, Hoshino-san?" the teacher turned around from the blackboard.

"I don't feel well; may I go to the infirmary?"

"Of course."

Ren left her bag and notepad—now closed—on her desk as she walked calmly out the door. She ran out of the nearest exit and into the clump of trees that surrounded the school. She saw the shadows follow close behind her. Ren stopped and turned swiftly.

"Cosmic Star Power!" she yelled.

As her transformation began, she saw the shadows come into the light that filtered in through the trees. Sailors Uranus and Neptune stood watching her, not looking surprised at all. Stardust finished her transformation and brandished her staff at them.

"Is that any way to treat a teammate?" Uranus chuckled.

"Why have you been watching me all day?" Stardust asked, not lowering her staff.

"We had to be sure that our suspicions were correct," Neptune said. "If you didn't make a move, we would have left the school. But you came out here just as we were about to leave, and now here we are."

Stardust frowned, but said nothing.

"We like to know our allies," Uranus clarified. "Not knowing who you were was bugging me."

"So you stop me on my way to school? Watch me in the classroom? Follow me?"

"We needed to know," Neptune shrugged. "It's necessary if we are to stand as a team against the neighboring galaxies."

Stardust began to laugh. She couldn't help it. While Neptune's mirror was a powerful tool used to see the problems of the universe, nothing compared to being out in space and watching the stars with your own eyes. Her laughter subsided as a thought occurred to her: could Neptune's mirror have picked up something that she had not? She had been feeling lonely lately, and wasn't her overly-vigilant self. Perhaps the mirror had picked up on something that she had missed.

"I have been watching the neighboring galaxies," Stardust said, bringing her staff to stand beside her. "Your mirror, Sailor Neptune, what has it seen?"

Uranus and Neptune exchanged looks before they brought out their weapons. Neptune her mirror and Uranus her jeweled saber.

"Terrible things will come to threaten the planet of earth," Neptune said, looking into her mirror. "But not before destroying all the others. The last to be destroyed will be Earth, and then the moon."

"What is this enemy?" Stardust demanded, anger flaring at the thought that she had not been the one to foresee any of this.

"It will be enemies from a neighboring galaxy that have harnessed the power of the Negaverse—thought to be lost after the downfall of Queen Beryl."

Stardust stiffened. The Negaverse had been her first slip-up when she had been a small Scout. She had been sent to watch the people of Earth, and to make sure that no one got influenced by the evilness of Beryl. But somehow Beryl had slipped past her defenses and brought about the battle between that of Earth and the Moon Kingdom. The memory of her mistake still haunted her. For a while after, Galaxia had paired her with another Scout, but that didn't last long.

"Are you okay?" Uranus was standing over Stardust, who had sunk to her knees in the grass.

"Oh," Stardust shook her head. "I'm fine, just thinking."

"You looked like you were remembering something," Neptune commented. "Was it something I said?"

Should she tell them that she had caused the battle of Earth and the Moon Kingdom in the future? Space held a different time, and Stardust had been untouched while the rest of the Scouts had been sent back. So none of them remembered that it was her fatal mistake that had cost the Moon Kingdom its beauty…. No one but herself, Galaxia, and Neo Queen Serenity.

Now Stardust hoped to fix her mistake.


	3. A Different View

**Sailor Stardust—Chapter 3**

**A Sailor Moon Fan Fiction**

A knock on the door roused Ren from sleep. She looked at the small digital clock on the coffee table—it was 12:01AM. She had fallen asleep on the couch again, using a book as a pillow. She was _supposed _to be guarding space at that moment—she should be grateful someone decided to visit so late.

She opened the door to Tsukino Usagi. "Tsukino-chan, what is it?"

"I'm sorry to be calling this late," Tsukino apologized, "but, well, Haruka told me and I…"

"Told you what?"

"That you're Sailor Stardust."

Ren didn't speak for a full five minutes, just stared at Tsukino, standing in her apartment doorway. Ren's father hadn't come home yesterday—probably another project at the office—so they were alone.

"Why would she tell you?" Ren asked.

"We're a team…"

"I'm not going to bite your head off," Ren moved aside and motioned Tsukino inside. "Come in and sit down."

"Thank you, Hoshino-san."

Tsukino sat down on the couch while Ren made them some tea. They sat together on the couch while it steeped, saying nothing.

Tsukino broke the silence: "Were you going to go patrol space tonight?"

"Yes, but I fell asleep," Ren chuckled. "I suppose I should thank you for waking me."

"Would…Galaxia get angry at you for being late?"

Ren froze before she could answer. Galaxia was not cruel, but she _did _keep a tight schedule. While Ren's tardiness would not cost her much, she had heard that sometimes Scouts had a sense taken away temporarily.

"No," Ren lied, "she won't do anything to me."

"Could I come help you?" Tsukino asked.

"What?" Ren stopped on her way to get the tea.

"I want to come and help you patrol space."

"I don't know…"

"Please?"

Tsukino had gotten up off of the couch and had taken Ren's hand. The other girl's willingness to help shocked Ren a little. No one had ever _offered _to help her before. Well, sans the first offer the other day to join the Inner Senshi as a team. But this, another to help her in her sacred duty….

"Only if you promise not to breathe a word of this."

"I promise."

"Then forget the tea, let's go."

* * *

Both transformed, Sailor Stardust and Moon sat on a large-ish piece of rock that Stardust had stopped in mid-orbit around another object. She tapped her fingers absently on her staff. Sailor Moon sat up straight, legs tucked beneath her, her hands folded on her knees. Stardust didn't know why, but being this close to the other Scout, she saw the resemblance between Tsukino and her Scout double. Of course, Haruka had told her all about the Inner Senshi after she and Michiru had finished telling her about the Earth's impending doom.

It _did _all make just a bit more sense. Sailor Moon was popular, but the odds that someone would do up their hair in the same style was highly unlikely. Stardust stood up as the space in front of their rock began to shimmer.

"Galaxia," Stardust knelt as her mistress solidified before her.

"Sailor Stardust," Galaxia's face was grim as she looked down on her soldier. "Tell me, my soldier, is your duty difficult? Is it a burden?"

"Never, mistress!" Stardust did not look into Galaxia's eyes—she would not be able to hide her heart, then.

"Then tell me, why were you late tonight? The sun set on the city of Tokyo quite a while ago."

"I…I fell asleep, mistress."

"Did I not grant you the gift of full wakefulness? So that you did not have the problem of sleep to hinder your sacred duty?"

"Indeed you did, mistress."

"Then explain how you could have _fallen asleep_." This last phrase was not shouted, merely emphasized.

"I…I cannot explain, my mistress."

"Sailor Stardust, as punishment for your behavior, I am taking your eyesight for the next fortnight."

"Yes…mistress."

Galaxia lifted Stardust's chin until the Scout was looking into the kind eyes of her mistress. A small spark, and then Stardust could see nothing. She felt tears prick the corners of her eyes but not fall. This form of punishment would cause her to rely on her other senses to defend the spaces between the other planets. It was a small joke on her mistake with Beryl and the Moon Kingdom: Galaxia was punishing her for both. Stardust would never live down her first and most horrible mistake.

"Sailor Moon," she heard Galaxia address the other Scout, "it is admirable that you wish to help Sailor Stardust in her duty. But it is hers and hers alone. For this night I will allow you to stay with her, but from now on you must stay away from this post."

With those words, she was gone.

"I thought you said that she wouldn't do anything to you!" Sailor Moon put her tender hands on Stardust's shoulders, guiding her into a seated position.

"I know I did," Stardust blinked at the inky blackness that would be her sight for two weeks. "I lied."


	4. Placing Blame

**Sailor Stardust—Chapter 4**

**A Sailor Moon Fan Fiction**

Ren sat where Tsukino had placed her at Hino Rei's bedroom table, where the other Scouts—Inner and Outer—had gathered as well. The Scouts were gathered to discuss the impending attack by the warlocks of the neighboring galaxy, Raia.

She had had to be guided to the meeting by Tsukino and Tenou. The entire way to Hino's, she had felt the tension between the two leaders. Obviously they had some issues to work through, but Ren was not going to get in the middle of them—not unless she had to.

"I still don't see why we have to be talking about this at all," Tomoe Hotaru said (Ren imagined the young girl shaking her head). "They mean us harm, as evident by your last encounter with a warlock. Trying to make peace with them will do no good."

"But we've faced enemies like them before," Kino Makoto pointed out. "Remember Nemesis, with Prince Diamond and everyone? We got them to turn to the side of good."

"True," Setsuna Meiou agreed, "but that was _after _you let Dark Phantom win the heart of Small Lady, and let him kill off everyone of the Black Moon Family."

"Hey! We didn't let him _do_ anything!" Hino argued.

From the way their voices were bouncing around the room, Ren got a relative layout of her surroundings, but not enough to trust herself with standing and moving around.

"Enough!" she said, forcefully. "You won't solve anything by arguing like this! The most you'll accomplish is letting the enemy in!"

"And how would _you _know?" Minako Aino asked.

"Because I had something similar happen."

No one spoke, waiting for her explanation.

"I am actually from the time of the first Queen Serenity. It was my job to protect the Moon Kingdom from outside attack. I thought the Kingdom was safe, but Beryl and her army slipped passed me—the Moon Kingdom fell, and Galaxia sent me back in time with the rest of the Princess's Court to watch over space. It is now my new duty to watch the recesses of space surrounding Earth, to protect the future Crystal Tokyo."

Silence met her words. If she had been able to see, she was sure that everyone in the room would be either huddled together at the other end of the room or gone—replacing themselves with plastic replicas or something. She was surprised when Tsukino spoke:

"So…you were sent to guard the space outside of my mother's kingdom?"

"Yes." Ren dry swallowed—Tsukino sounded more like her Princess Serenity than she had before.

"But it wasn't _her _fault that Beryl formed an army!" Tenou came to Ren's rescue. "Hoshino, how old were you when this happened?"

"I was new to my Scout powers and duties—it was my first assignment. But that doesn't excuse what I did."

"Of course it does!" Setsuna chided. "Someone new to their powers—not even trained properly—cannot be charged with such a large responsibility."

"She still let Beryl inside f our perimeter!" Tsukino argued, voice getting louder. "Maybe if she had done her job right—!"

"Maybe if _someone _hadn't been sneaking off to Earth to see their precious Endymion!" Tenou shot back.

"STOP IT!" Ren shouted, stopping all cross chatter. "I take partial blame for the fall of the Moon Kingdom and that is the end of it!"

Was she tearing up? It wasn't anyone's fault but her own that the Moon Kingdom had fallen—and Beryl, of course. But it was Ren that had not done her job properly. Tsukino was right to accuse her of that. In fact, all of the Scouts should hate her! Ren had failed in her one mission as a Scout.

Ren felt a calm hand rest on her shoulder.

"Leave her alone, you guys." Minako's voice sounded inside of Ren's head, an angelic bell amidst the condemning tones of the others. "That's all over and done with. What matters now is finding a way to defeat the neighboring enemy. We need to work with Hoshino-san. She's one of the few of us who has any idea what's out there in space. We need her help."

Ren heard everyone agree, and Tsukino's mumbled approval. She knew that the dicision to trust was probably very hard for Tsukino. Even though the girl had integrated into her life on Earth—but really what choice did she have?—the Moon Princess had her moments of complete isolation and mistrust of the world just like everyone else.

"Hey, where's Mamoru?" Makoto asked, changing the subject.

"He said he had a paper to write," Tsukino answered. "He told me he'd be by later."

* * *

Ren sat quietly at her kitchen table. Minako had been kind enough to drop her back at her apartment. Big surprise, her father _still _wasn't home—not that he would be able to see that anything was wrong. Ever since Ren had turned sixteen he had been showing less and less interest in her life. Now he was barely around anymore, and when he was, he was sleeping.

Before leaving the meeting, everyone agreed that it was a good idea to leave someone at home with Ren. Even though she was used to living/surviving alone—for although her father was rarely home, he still took care of her as best as he could—Ren found the gesture touching. In all honesty—though she would never openly admit this to anyone—she had not felt deeply moved by anything since she was a younger teenager, when she and her father still did activities together.

Minako offered to stay over with Ren. The two were making the couch into a bed when Minako asked a question:

"What made you leave your post?"

Ren paused in her action of smoothing the sheets. "I did not _leave_; I was patrolling the other side of the Moon's sphere. It is a large object and takes a great deal of time to encompass. I was caught off-guard by Beryl's brazen attack."

"That is understandable," Minako consented. "But why haven't you asked Galaxia for a partner? Or help?"

Ren smiled, suppressing a laugh. "My lady would not do such a thing. My duty is as a lone protector."


	5. Like Mother, Like Daughter

**Sailor Stardust—Chapter 5**

Minako left Ren's apartment in the morning, before Ren's father woke up for work. When he came into the kitchen, he noticed Ren already seated at the table, head bent over a cup of coffee.

"Good morning, Ren," he said, showing no real interest in the goodness of the morning.

"Good morning, _otou_," Ren responded, eyes closed.

"You got in late last night."

"Really? I hadn't noticed the hour."

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Ren kept most of the sarcastic tone out of her voice. "I got carried away at the office."

To make things easier on her father, Ren had told him that she had a non-paying internship at a newspaper. She gave him a false name so that he couldn't track it—not that he would. In truth, the whole thing was a over-up for her work as a Sailor Scout. If he ever questioned her—which was rare—she would blame whatever it was on work.

They lapsed into silence, which was broken a few moments later by a polite knock on the door. Ren felt her father look to her, then go and answer the door.

"Good morning, Hoshino-san," Ren heard Setsuna greet her father, and heard the slight rustle of the woman's business skirt as she bowed slightly.

"Good morning," Hoshino sounded a tad surprised. "Who are you?"

"My name is Setsuna Meiou, and I am a…coworker of Ren-san," she introduced herself.

"Has she done something wrong?"

Ren bristled at her father's initial reaction. If her mother were still living with them… He would never have said something like that.

"No, sir," Setsuna said, "I came to tell Ren-san some work related business. May she come out today?"

Hoshino blinked. "Of course."

Ren got up and made her way to her room slowly. She put on a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a tank top. Then she grabbed a light jacket and went to meet Setsuna.

"Meiou-san," she greeted, smiling. "How nice of you to visit."

"I would have called," Setsuna replied, "but I wanted to talk to you in person."

"How thoughtful." Ren touched her father on the shoulder. "Have a good day at work, _otou_, and I'll see you later."

"A—all right," Hoshino watched the two girls—women, really—leave down the hallway and out into the spring morning.

Ren and Setsuna walked silently for many moments. Setsuna touched Ren's shoulder when they reached a street corner.

"Haruka, Michiru, we are here," Setsuna alerted the other figures standing on the other side of the street.

Ren concentrated and could just make out the slight vibrations the other people made as they crossed the street. She gripped her transformation pen—which she had slipped into her pocket before leaving the house—in case the other two decided to pull something like at the school.

She still hadn't really forgiven them for that.

"Good morning, Hoshino-san," Michiru greeted.

"Good morning to you as well, Michiru-san."

"We can't talk here," Haruka cut straight to business. "We should go someplace more secluded."

"The trees behind my school," Ren suggested immediately, knowing Haruka would get her meaning.

Ren felt the air around their small group grow tense. Then it was gone and Haruka agreed.

* * *

They walked over to the private school, where Ren used her student ID card to gain access to the grounds—not that Haruka and Michiru couldn't have just hopped the fence.

"What is it that you need to tell me?" Ren demanded when they had reached the location. "Don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about."

"Well…" Setsuna began. "I may be able to shed some light regarding your mother."

"My mother left my father after giving birth to me," Ren said.

"That's not completely true," Michiru told her.

"What are you talking about?" Ren asked, growing more and more puzzled.

She heard Haruka sigh heavily. The grip on her transformation pen increased.

"When I had been a while at my job as the Guardian of the Gate," Setsuna explained, "my lady queen, Serenity, thought it necessary that I should receive an assistant. She introduced me to your mother, Hakura Tanya, who transformed to become Sailor Generation. She was to be responsible for the Sands of Time that were kept in a pocket of space directly behind the door that I guarded.

"But she longed after one man whose time she watched more than anyone else's: your father's. One day she stole away from her post and went to Earth. She sought him out and they fell in love. Eight months into her pregnancy with you, I finally caught up with her and brought her back to our posts. She sent you in a basket to your father with a note."

Ren absorbed all of this in silence. Then:

"Is she still alive?"

"Yes, she has remained at her post these many years," Setsuna confirmed. "She also performs my duties, when I am away on other Scout business."

"Can I see her?"

"Perhaps when you regain your vision…"

"No!" Ren folded her arms. "I am not going to sit here and not see the mother that abandoned me as a child. I want to know why she did what she did. I _need _answers, do you understand?"

* * *

After several hours of unsuccessful reasoning, Setsuna agreed to take Ren to see her mother in the outer pocket of space that held the Gate and the Sands of Time.

Stardust and Pluto stepped into the outer space. Gradually, Stardust's sight returned.

"Your sight is restored here because we are in a place that is not within the same time as Earth and its Galaxy," Pluto explained to her unspoken question.

Stardust nodded, jumping slightly as a voice said with authority: "Halt! Who goes there?"

"It is I, Sailor Pluto!" Pluto tapped her staff on the floor of the space, commanding presence. "I have brought another Scout as well."

"Who is this other Scout that has entered our domain?"

Stardust stepped forward, farther than Pluto. She glared into the shadow space that the voice had come from.

"Check your sands, Sailor Generation, and perhaps my identity will be revealed to you!"

The voice did not answer. Then a figure slowly stepped into the light. The woman that stood before Stardust could have been her twin—besides the obvious years that separated them. Sailor Generation had the grey and black color scheme: grey collar, black bow and skirt, black gloves with grey ends and white circlets at the wrist. Her bow at the back of her skirt was also black, and she had black, full-legged tights that disappeared into grey boots that came up to her mid-calf. The older Scout had a staff similar to Pluto's, but with a white star atop it, which matched the white star on her silver headband and in the center of the black bow on her chest. The same white star that Stardust had on her own Scout uniform.

Generation had the same color hair as Stardust, with the exception that it was slightly longer—mirroring the length of Sailor Mercury's—with three white pearls nested in her hair on either side of her hair part. Generation had gone through all of her evolutions, and now stood at her post as a full Scout.

Stardust stared at her for a long moment, not knowing what to say. The woman before her had an equal reaction.

Pluto glanced between the two of them, ready to step in if things should get out of hand.

But nothing did. Dropping their staffs in almost perfect unison, mother and daughter Scout closed the distance between them and embraced in their first hug.


	6. Duty

**Sailor Stardust—Chapter 6**

The visit with her mother had been short, and not enough was said before Pluto had to take Stardust back to Earth.

"Will I see you again?" Stardust asked Sailor Generation, her mother.

"Of course," Generation smiled.

Generation handed Stardust a gold chain with an hourglass pendant. Stardust looked at it a moment, confused.

"Turn it over," Generation explained, "and I will appear to you. But I will only be able to speak with you as long as the sand is running. Once the sand runs out, our time together will be gone."

"But then I could simply turn it back over again."

Generation shook her head. "It may only be used once a day. I advise you not to use it unless you feel the need. The more you use it, the less time I may spend on my duties here. With Sailor Pluto assisting the other Scouts on Earth, it is necessary that I not fall behind."

"Thank you," Stardust slipped the chain around her neck. "I promise to use it sparingly."

And then Pluto had laid her hand on Stardust's shoulder, transporting them back to Earth. Ren felt rather than saw her eyesight slip away again, and a small ray of hope in her died. She had thought that she would maintain at least some of her sight from the other plane…but the time in transit had sapped that away.

"We saw Mamoru-san while you were away," Michiru told them.

"He was probably on his way to Tsukino-san's house," Setsuna observed.

"I think we'd better go there," Haruka advised, slipping her arm around Ren's.

Ren felt the jacket sleeve of Haruka's school uniform. They said good-bye to Michiru and Setsuna and then set off in the direction that Ren hoped was Tsukino's house. It was the middle of a beautiful—at least the rays of sun Ren felt on her skin made it seem beautiful—Saturday afternoon. Ren assumed that Haruka had had an exam earlier that morning; otherwise she wouldn't be wearing the school uniform.

"Haruka-san?" Ren asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you think…. Do you think I'm an awful person?"

"Why would I think that?" Haruka looked down at the top of Ren's head. Although she wasn't exceptionally tall for her age, Haruka still stood a full head higher than Ren.

"I let Beryl past my defense of the Moon Kingdom—I'm the reason it fell to the power of the Negaverse."

"No, you're not," Haruka sighed. "Look, if I've learned anything from working with the Inner Senshi, it's that they value teamwork. They want everyone to work with them because it will help everyone become stronger. I know you think that Galaxia gave you your duty to do alone…"

"She did," Ren did not waver in her response. "I'm not meant to have help—she made that perfectly clear the last time."

"But perhaps a little help wouldn't hurt. You _do _know that all of us are a team, right?"

"But the Inner and Outer Senshi—"

"Work together, no matter what our initial inclinations were," Haruka stopped. They were at Tsukino's house. "Just, think about it, okay? You don't have to be alone in this."

"Who told you that?" Ren asked, not feeling very confident in that promise.

"Tsukino did."

Ren heard Haruka's retreating footsteps, and then she was alone. She heard muffled voices—a man and a woman—coming from the upper floor of the house. Ren made her way to the front door carefully and then tentatively knocked.

"Hello?" a woman, Tsukino's mother, answered the door.

"Good afternoon, Tsukino-sama," Ren bowed respectfully to the older woman. "I have come to visit Usagi-san. Is she at home?"

"Are you a friend of Usagi's?" Tsukino asked.

"We know each other through mutual friends."

"Then please, do come in—oh!" Upon moving aside to let Ren into the house, the older woman realized that Ren could not see. "Are you all right?"

"I am fine," Ren assured. "My vision is experiencing a minor setback. If you would be so kind as to help me into your home?"

"Of course!" Tsukino's mother led Ren into the house, where the younger woman took off her shoes, and then was led to the base of the stairs. "Usagi's is the only room with noise coming from it."

"Thank you, Tsukino-sama."

Ren walked up the stairs slowly, and then tracked the wall with her hand as she made her way down the hall closer to the voices. They were more distinctive now, and Ren could make out the voice of Usagi and an older man—Mamoru? He sounded very familiar…

She knocked quietly on the door and the talking cut off abruptly. The door opened, and Ren could feel the presence of a tall person in front of her.

"Yes?" the man spoke.

"Um…I—" Ren began.

"Hoshino-san!" Tsukino Usagi came to stand next to the man. "What are you doing here?"

"I…came to apologize," Ren said, still unsettled by Mamoru's greeting. "May I come in?"

Tsukino took her hand and led her to the table in her room. She sat down, presumably next to the man, and Ren sat at the other end.

"Hoshino-san, I know I shouldn't have gotten mad at you, and it is I who should apologize."

Ren shook her head with a light smile. "That is kind of you."

"It is my wish that we all work together, as a team."

_You don't have to be alone in this_.

"Thank you, Tsukino-san." She listened silently for the man to speak, but he did not. "Excuse me, sir, but you seem very familiar."

"Oh! How rude of me!" Tsukino laughed. "This is Mamoru Chiba. Mamo-chan, this is Hoshino Ren. She is Sailor Stardust. Hoshino-san, Mamo is—"

"You are Prince Endymion," Ren said confidently. "Your presence is unmistakable."

Mamoru's energy faltered in his confusion—Ren was picking up on people's energies as her eyesight stayed dormant for longer periods. Perhaps it was a small gift from Galaxia? Or maybe her own powers growing all the more…?

"Hoshino-san is from my mother's time," Tsukino explained to him. "She guarded the spaces between the planets."

"As is my duty given to me by Sailor Galaxia," Ren nodded.

Ren did not realize that she was holding her breath until she released it slowly after Tsukino did not rush to tell Mamoru about her part in the fall of the Moon Kingdom.

Tsukino got up to go and get them some drinks, leaving Mamoru sitting at the table with Ren.

"Hoshino-san," he said after Tsukino had closed the door.

"Yes?" Ren's heart picked up the pace. Surely he wouldn't get mad at her for what she had done?

He did not. Instead, he said: "I want to let you know that neither of us blames you for what happened to the Moon Kingdom."

A weight lifted off of Ren's chest. "Thank you, Mamoru-san that is very generous of you."

She felt the prick of tears behind her eyes. What was it with her and the tears lately? None of this used to happen when it was just her and her dad. Maybe being with the other Scouts—and not just hearing about them from Galaxia—brought about other emotions inside of her?

"Erm…Mamoru-san?"

"Yes?" Mamoru's voice contained no doubt as to her innocence in this matter, and Ren felt her breath slow in relief.

"I'm sorry that Beryl destroyed the Moon Kingdom."

"Like I said," he assured her, "neither Usa-ko nor I blame you for what happened. From what she's told me, you couldn't have kept them at bay for long anyway."

"I have a special power—"

"You mean like Hotaru?" Mamoru's voice switched to that of concern. "You wouldn't have been able to keep them off of the Moon Kingdom, Hoshino-san, you have to believe that."

"I will never know, now will I?" Ren was getting angry now. "I wasn't paying attention and I let her slip inside of the defenses!"

"But no one Scout's power is _that _strong!" Mamoru countered. "Galaxia was wrong—_is_ wrong—to have you patrol the spaces alone!"

Ren wanted to counter his argument… But he had a point. She had never wanted to fight alone, out in the spaces. It wasn't fair, but she had never verbally complained to anyone—especially not Galaxia. But she couldn't very well accept the help of the other Scouts either. It had only been a little while ago that Galaxia had taken away Ren's sight for having Sailor Moon with her on patrol. In her attempt to make a new friend, Ren had endangered Usagi. They had been lucky that Galaxia had spared the Moon princess.

But they might not be so lucky next time. So there wouldn't be a next time.

"I am forced to work alone," Ren said this so quietly, Mamoru could barely hear her. "I don't want anyone else getting hurt."


End file.
